National Gay News

Lady Gaga called for equality for same-sex couples around the world during a speech Saturday at EuroPride in Rome.

Agence France-Presse reports that Gaga addressed a crowd estimated at one million in the ancient Circus Maximus. She called for listeners to be "revolutionaries of love."

"The US pop diva criticized governments in Eastern Europe and the Middle East for condemning young people to a life of isolation and discrimination and told the EuroPride rally: 'We're all from the same DNA. We were just born this way,'" she said.

More than a million U.S. troops - roughly half the armed forces - have been trained on the new law allowing gays to serve openly in the military, and so far there has been none of the turmoil or dire consequences predicted by opponents of what had been expected to be a wrenching change in military culture.

There’s been no widespread resistance, no mad rush for the door by enlisted members opposed to the policy and no drop in recruiting.

"So far this seems to be a non-event," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff for the Army, told reporters recently.

(Atlanta) Gay and bisexual high school students are more likely than their heterosexual classmates to smoke, drink alcohol or do other risky things, according to a government study released Monday.

Based on anonymous surveys of 156,000 high school students, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study is the largest by the government to look at sexual orientation and behavior in teens. It echoes similar findings in some smaller studies.

Many years ago I was invited to present a paper at a philosophy conference. As usual, a respondent was assigned: a Professor Robin Somebody (I don’t recall the last name). I found out about the assignment by mail, and I remember wondering immediately, “Is Robin a man or a woman?”

This was in the pre-Internet days, so I couldn’t do a Google Image Search. But I told myself that it didn’t matter, and let it go.

Then Professor Robin’s comments arrived, and I had to write a rejoinder. What pronouns should I use?

The Waikiki area of Honolulu is a great place to start a vacation in Hawaii. In fact, it's the only place you can really 'get your gay on' in the islands, meaning it's here you'll find the most gay infrastructure (gay bars, tours, a beach, etc.).

Marriott's Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa has been reaching out to the LGBT market for the ast couple of years. Here's a great deal from them just for us LGBT travelers.

Starting at $309 per room, per night, the Paradise in Hawaii Package includes oceanview deluxe room accommodations for two, daily breakfast at Kuhio Beach Grill, and a welcome tropical drink on arrival at the resort's open-air Moana Terrace overlooking Kuhio Beach. The package is now available on the oceanfront resort's new LGBT website – www.marriottwaikiki.com/glbt.

Desperate Housewives star and Grammy award–winner Vanessa Williams contributes the latest video to the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign from the Human Rights Campaign.

"Already five states plus Washington, D.C., have marriage equality. It's time for New York to lead again," says Williams, a native New Yorker and the first African-American to win the Miss America title.

(CNN) -- A federal judge in California on Wednesday struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, ruling that voter-approved Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution -- handing supporters of gay rights a major victory in a case that both sides say is sure to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 136-page opinion, issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco, is an initial step in what will likely be a lengthy fight over California's Proposition 8, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

There are the martyr movies- Milk, Philadelphia – where a noble gay person comes to a tragic end through no fault of his own, becoming a hero through his suffering; and there are the coming out movies, where a young person's adolescence is made more complicated by her realization that she's a lesbian.

Beginners is something different.

It is fresh. Funny. And touches on the meaning of life without being morbid or maudlin.

Joakim Noah has apologized for yelling an antigay slur at a fan during the Chicago Bulls' 96-85 playoff loss to the Miami Heat over the weekend. GLAAD says it's a start, but is urging the NBA to take further action against the Bulls center.

"Last month the NBA sent an important message about how such slurs fuel a climate of intolerance and are unacceptable," GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in a statement. "These anti-gay remarks, coming so soon after, demonstrate how much needs to be done.

Don Lemon was imbued with the gift of pride at a young age. Castro San Francisco beams with the same pride. The youngest of three and the only male in a houseful of women, Lemon was encouraged by his family to dream big. "I grew up believing that I could be the president of the United States," he says. "I was told I could be whatever I wanted."

But despite the support and encouragement he received at home in his small Louisiana community, Lemon says growing up gay in the Deep South left him feeling different from other kids — a feeling he now believes has served him well. "I think it made me keener about human behavior," says Lemon, who came out to his family after moving to New York to go to college. "I felt empathy for people who were shunned, who were bullied, who were teased.